York City Knights 36, Skolars 8

The Knights barely got out of second gear at Huntington Stadium as they beat rank outsiders London Skolars 36-8.

But any fans picking holes in the performance should compare it to the dross served up on six of the club’s previous seven league openers, and go to work today wearing a smile not a non-plussed frown.

Aside from a win over Chorley in 2004, the Knights have endured disappointing defeats each time, with the most perturbing being against Gateshead in 2003 and 2007, the North Easterners of yesteryear being of similar rank to the Skolars of today.

To start with a six-try win, therefore, is comparatively spectacular. Furthermore, going joint-top so soon means the club are not having to play catch-up as usual.

That said, they will have to play better to enjoy similar results against the stronger opposition that now abounds in this division.

There were a few defensive sets in which London were pinned back, and the bulk of the game was played in their territory.

But the enthusiasm in the home ranks was lacking, especially when in possession of the ball. It was as if too many players expected things to happen instead of making them happen. “Well we’re gonna win anyway so I won’t bother going up in support, or run from deep, or make a dummy run.”

Good job they did win then, doing enough in patches to overturn a troubling start.

They’d suffered a blow around noon when second-row Danny Hill withdrew with illness. However, his replacement, young Luke Hardbottle, had a good game, running good lines to make a couple of decent breaks, and also showing good hands in helping to set up a try for Jonathan Schofield.

The Knights suffered another blow soon after the kick-off – with London skipper Paul Thorman getting ahead on points against big brother Chris.

The Knights’ player/caretaker-coach tried to run the sixth tackle but Paul smartly closed the gap, forcing the turnover on half-way.

The Skolars’ scrum-half ended the subsequent set with a bomb which was fielded on his own try-line by Danny Ratcliffe, who then lost the ball in the tackle when trying to get out of the goal-area – for visiting centre Jason Cook to touch down.

Of all the people to make mistakes, Ratcliffe and his caretaker-boss were not the likely candidates. The ace duo lifted their performances thereafter, though, with Thorman doing as much good work in defence as with the ball.

His brother’s half-back partner, and fellow former Knight, Jermaine Coleman, had effected the aforementioned tackle, but he had to go off later after a recurrence of his knee trouble.

His departure did not help the Skolars’ cause – nor did the arrival of The Dumptruck.

Brett Waller was sent on midway through the first period as part of the usual front-row rotation, and within nine minutes he got the Knights on the scoreboard.

Scrum-half Schofield had jinked close and Mark Applegarth, the other replacement prop, drove close, but there was no stopping Waller from ten metres, three tacklers being scattered over the line with him.

Soon after, another Waller drive set the position from where Joe McLocklan’s fine pass had Lee Waterman steaming in.

There had been dissenting voices in the Pop Stand but these abated as the Knights’ slow-building pressure began to wear down the visitors and tell on the scoreboard, the third try coming just before half-time as Thorman twice dummied before timing a little pass perfectly for Ratcliffe to score. Their earlier errors were now wiped off.

Luke May, dual-registered with London and Super League neighbours Harlequins, was held up over the whitewash by a super Ratcliffe tackle five minutes into the second half but it was merely a stay of execution as Paul Thorman’s clever kick fed Matt Thomas to narrow the gap to 18-8.

However, York substitute hooker Paul Stamp marked an excellent cameo with a solo try, sprinting through a gap at marker to score from half-way.

And on the other side of the hour-mark, Hardbottle’s superb offload saw prop Alex Benson pop up a beautiful ball for Schofield to run onto and score.

Paul Thorman, who had been unsuccessful with conversion attempts, won a dropout with a kick from a rare London foray, but the last word went to Waterman with a superb solo try.

The centre, consistently good throughout, defensively and with several good breaks, added all six conversions and was well worth the 20 points he finished with.

Match facts

Knights: Ratcliffe 6, Reittie 6, Mitchell 6, Waterman 8, Wilson 6, C Thorman 6, Schofield 6, Freer 6, McLocklan 6, Benson 6, Ross 7, Hardbottle 7, Blakeway 7.

Subs (all used): Applegarth 7, Clough 7, Stamp 7, Waller 8.

Tries: Waller 29; Waterman 36, 80; Ratcliffe 39; Stamp 59; Schofield 63.

Conversions: Waterman 29, 36, 39, 59, 63, 80.

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: None.

Sent off: None.

Skolars: Cunningham, Adebisi, Cook, May, Iwenofu, Coleman, P Thorman, Simon, Honor, Williams, Purslow, Thomas, Isles.

Subs (all used): Roach, Carter, Welsh, Ball.

Tries: Cook 2; Thomas 45.

Conversions: None.

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: None.

Sent off: None.

Man of the match: Lee Waterman – safe defensively and always a threat going forward, the centre deserved his 20-point individual return.

Referee: Tim Roby (St Helens). Rating: The youngster was a bit lax on off-sides, but wasn’t noticed all that much so couldn’t have been too bad.

Penalty count: 11-7.

Weather watch: bitterly cold and with a dampness that numbs the bones – made for heavy going.

Half-time: 18-4.

Attendance: 811.

Moment of the match: Lee Waterman’s solo try on the final hooter, running diagonally before straightening up, dashing through the defensive line and cutting back inside the full-back to do a forward roll when touching down.

Gaffe of the match: sorry Ratters, but losing the ball on your own try-line to gift the opposition a try in the second minute was a bit of a howler.

Match rating: compared to York’s usual league openers, this was utterly brilliant. In reality, though, it was pretty standard fare at best.